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Thank you, Howard. The siren definitely does not have the high load of a starter motor (as I recall, the wire is 10awg) and I’m also not planning on attending any accidents where it needs to be used on the road to get there! Anyway, I’lll check it out tomorrow with an ohm meter.

Continuous vs intermittent is not so much load but rather it means the length of time the coil can stay energized before the solenoid overheats. Most coils are wound on a plastic core these days and if it gets too hot the plastic deforms and the plunger can no longer move in the core. The coils can also burn out if kept on too long. Even back in that era whatever the coils were wound on was susceptible to heat. I have an Autolite solenoid for the big starters with just that condition. It got too hot and the plunger was stuck inside the bore.

I understand that but this won't be used at all other than an occasional wail! I'm nearly deaf as it is and it's too loud for me.